THAT’S A NEW ONE

Michigan ‘Fake Electors’: We Aren’t Guilty—We Were ‘Brainwashed’

Lawyers for the pair argued they were effectively “brainwashed” by Trump into believing the 2020 election was rigged.

Two Republican “fake electors” in Michigan are using a novel legal strategy in an attempt to weasel their way out of criminal charges stemming from their involvement with former President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election in the state. Lawyers for Clifford Frost and Mari-Ann Henry argued that the pair were effectively “brainwashed” by Trump into believing the stolen election conspiracy—and therefore did not possess the correct state of mind to be convicted of fraud. The argument is an attempt to throw state Attorney General Dana Nessel’s words back in her face, after she described the pair of Republicans as “brainwashed” by the former president’s lies. The next hearings in the case are scheduled for next month—and it remains unclear what chances the strategy has of working.